Emotions Unbottled
by ravengal
Summary: Raven hates feeling angry and upset about Robin and Starfire finding love together, so she experiments... but something goes wrong. All eight of her emotions are set loose on the town... and now she won't wake up. RobxStar, BBxRae, CyxBee, slight KFxJinx
1. Wish Upon A Starfire

Author's note: A big apology to all the people that liked A New Nevermore. I wasn't happy with it. It needed redoing, despite how many reviews it got... so here's the new version. It doesn't differ greatly from the first, but it's still better, I think.

**Chapter One: Wish Upon A Starfire**

It was late at night in Jump City and the Teen Titans were, on Starfire's request, as it had been her turn to choose their Saturday night movie, watching a very sappy romance film about courtly love... where the average Joe of a high school fell in love with the rich, popular girl that would never even give him the time of day until she eventually grew to fall in love with him too... but Robin and Starfire didn't seem the slightest bit interested in the movie anymore.

Raven silently ground her teeth together; not only was she having to endure the cheesiest, most revolting movie that she'd ever seen in her eighteen years of living, but the Boy Wonder and Tamaranian princess had to make out right next to her!

True, they were an official couple now... which the press had had a field day with when they'd found out... and had been ever since the team's trip to Tokyo, but seriously! They'd been at this constantly, as though they were rubbing everyone else's face in the fact that they had partners and no one else did!

Raven took a deep, soothing breath; no need to get frustrated over such stupid things... both Robin and Starfire were finally happy, after all... and she was happy that _they_ were happy... She glanced over at them before quickly looking away again; the very sight burned her vision. _Why_ couldn't they do that in private, instead of around her? Wasn't it bad enough _already_ knowing that she, the wicked half-demon that she was, would be alone for the rest of her life without having to see _this_?

She glanced in the other direction and saw that Beast Boy had fallen asleep and that Cyborg was chuckling, poking him with a metallic finger. She rolled her eyes, not surprised in the slightest that neither or them were showing any interest whatsoever in the movie. Not that _she_ was either, mind; it was boring the hell out of her.

She couldn't help it; she took another glance at Robin and Starfire... and looked away again as though scolded. Yes, it hurt to watch, but never enough to make her cry. No, she was too strong-willed for that to happen... but still...

She sighed; Starfire was perfect. True, she was an alien that still had much to learn about Earth and always talked in rather upper class-style English, being a princess and everything... but she was still perfect. One, she was beautiful; she was tall, she had ruby red hair that glimmered in the sunlight, she had eyes in two shades of green... lime and emerald... she had tanned skin that, although orange, looked incredibly natural on her and she had hourglass curves. Two, she had an adorable personality; she was the sweetest person on the planet, she was always cutely confused about Earthly words, phrases and customs and she generally lit up any room she walked into. Three, she was no weakling; she was the strongest person on the planet, she had both starbolts and eyebeams and she could fly. Four, she was a princess; she was the second-born to the Emperor and Empress of Planet Tamaran and she had turned down the chance to rule it herself after banishing her sister, Blackfire... not just one country of it, but _all_ of it.

Raven didn't want to feel angry at Starfire... she really didn't... the Tamaranian had been so nice to her over the time they'd known each other... despite how different she was from the rest of the world... but twinges of the emotion pricked at her every time she saw her and Robin making out around the tower. This, she knew, though she hated beyond all reasoning to admit it, was because of a small case of jealousy.

Never, in her life, had she had a boyfriend, whereas Starfire, from what the girl had told her once... and once had been quite enough... had had too many to count. They may have all been suitors from Tamaran, either merely interested in her beauty or her royal heritage, but they were boyfriends nonetheless... and this hurt Raven to think about. True, Starfire had said that she'd never truly fallen in love with any of her suitors, but she'd liked them and they'd liked her back, whereas most of the boys that _Raven_ had ever had a crush on had been absolutely petrified of her... especially whenever she lost her temper and entered her state of demonic possession.

However, while this may have been so, she knew that to _truly_ fall in love could be disastrous. Being rejected could tear her heart to shreds and cause her emotions to surge out of control, leaving her vulnerable for her father, Trigon, to take control of her and make her destroy Planet Earth... so she'd made a strict promise to herself that she would _never_ open up her feelings wide enough to let a boy in. Sure, she'd had that crush on Aqualad for a short time, but that was nothing... she soon recovered... but when that traitor, Malchior, came along, everything changed. Her brows furrowed; he was the only person to _ever_ call her beautiful... and he made her feel the way no one else had ever been able to: special... loved... and normal. She'd actually forgotten her own promise to herself and fell in love with him... probably because she was desperate for someone to complain to about her obnoxious green team-mate and found that they shared the same dark, misunderstood personality... Well, she'd _thought_ that she'd fallen in love with him, but she knew better now. She scowled; she'd trusted him... she'd _loved_ him... then what did he go and do? He betrayed her heart by lying to her. He was a fake... and it had torn her to pieces. She relaxed her frown; thinking about it, that day hadn't been a complete tragedy, had it? Yes, she'd been at her lowest point, but who had helped her get over it with his surprisingly kind and thoughtful words? Beast Boy.

She glanced over at the green changeling a second time, noticing that he was still fast asleep with Cyborg prodding him in the side, and her thoughts lingered on him; before she met Malchior that day, she remembered that _he_ had been the one to start it all off by calling her creepy and hurting her feelings... and yet, she recalled that, on occasion, she would feel something for him... whenever their gazes locked and he smiled at her... She shook her head; no, she didn't want to go down that road. She shoved it roughly to the back of her mind, just like every other time, vowing that the prospect would never be ventured again... She paused; then why was she facing a problem with this method? Every other time, it had disappeared, then, whenever he'd done something completely stupid that would amuse her, it would return, stronger than the time before... She shook her head, slightly rougher than before; she mustn't be plagued by such thoughts.

* * *

A while later, once the movie had ended, everyone was retreating to their separate bedrooms for a good night's sleep, Cyborg opting to carry Beast Boy to his, seeing as the green changeling still wouldn't wake up. Seriously, it was like he'd been knocked out with sleeping gas or something.

"Goodnight, friends!" Starfire said cheerfully, waving to everyone around the room. "I wish you all pleasant shlorvaks!"

"Night," Cyborg replied, throwing Beast Boy ungracefully over his metallic shoulder.

"Night," Raven replied, giving a small nod of the head.

Starfire, smiling gleefully as always, flew over to her boyfriend, dropped herself down to ground level and grasped his hand.

"Yeah," Robin said, "night, everybody." The couple then turned to leave.

"You _are_ planning to sleep in your _own_ rooms tonight, right?" Cyborg's teasing voice asked. Robin froze in his tracks. "I mean, I wouldn't wanna be kept up all night with-"

Robin spun around so fast, one could swear that he was Kid Flash. "Finish that sentence and you die, Cyborg."

Cyborg smirked and shrugged his shoulders, almost causing Beast Boy to slide off the one he was lying on. "Hey, I'm just sayin'..."

Starfire looked generally confused. "What is it you are talking about, Cyborg?" she asked innocently. "_How_ may Robin and I keep you up all night?" Raven had to fight down the smirk creeping onto her face; Robin's expression was priceless. "Do you expect the two of us to have a sleepover? That would be fun, but I would not have a sleepover without all of us there." She paused for thought. "And do you not recharge during the night? Would that not mean that we would not keep you up anyway?"

"That's enough, Star..." Robin grumbled before pulling Starfire away, "and yes, we _are_ sleeping in our own rooms. Goodnight."

Just as they exited through the automatic doors, Cyborg burst into a fit of chuckles. "Aw, man..." he said, doubling over in his laughter, "gets him riled up every time."

* * *

Raven always liked to meditate first before getting ready for bed, so that's exactly what she was going to do now; as she seated herself on her bed and sat cross-legged, just as she always did before her meditation, she closed her eyes and took deep, soothing breaths.

Just as she was about to begin chanting her mantra, however, a sudden thought struck her, causing her eyes to snap back open; Robin and Starfire's antics as a couple lately were what had been causing her more stress than usual. It may have been routine to meditate at least once every day, but, lately, she'd been having to meditate at least _three_ times every day. That was quite a difference; she hadn't meditated this much since the incident with Trigon. True, the anger she felt these days was nowhere near as strong as it was back then, but still...

She inwardly sighed. _What would life be like without these negative emotions?_ she wondered. _What would it be like to never feel depressed or angry?_

As these new questions surfaced, her curiosity pecked at her to experiment for herself. She shook her head; no, that would be like a cop-out. Besides, all of her emotions were a part of her; she may not like feeling a few of them, but that gave her no excuse to just get rid of them.

She glanced over at her mirror, which was resting on her bedside cabinet, and her curiosity pecked at her again; just what would happen if she _did_ decide to experiment and take the emotions she didn't like to feel out of her mind? Her mouth twisted; she had no idea what would happen... she'd never tried it before... and that made her curiosity burn like hell.

Unable to stop herself, she unfolded her legs, slid off her bed and walked towards her mirror; it was time to see what her emotions would say about this.

* * *

Raven paced back and forth along the rugged terrain, strange rock formations floating past her on every side. She was currently within the confines of her mind and this particular section, where she had assembled a meeting, was the area that reflected her personality; it made her appear harsh and foreboding, yet it concealed much more friendly and welcoming environments that were actually only a stone's throw away.

All eight of her emotions were seated on the floor in a circle around her, observing her in silence, and Raven stopped to look at each of them in turn; each one had its hood up, yet each one was behaving differently. Her pink-cloaked emotion, Happiness, was sitting with her legs up to her chest and her arms around said legs, rocking back and forth with a smile on her face... her purple-cloaked emotion, Affection, was sitting cross-legged, leaning her elbows, which were holding her head, on her thighs and smiling... her green-cloaked emotion, Bravery, was sitting with her legs out in front of her, her knees loosely raised, and was propping herself up by her hands, smirking slightly... her grey-cloaked emotion, Timidity, had her legs up to her chest and her arms folded on top of them with her face barely peeking out above her arms... her red-cloaked emotion, Anger, was sitting with her legs tightly crossed and her arms tightly folded, scowling... her orange-cloaked emotion, Rudeness, had her legs spread out and was propping herself up on her elbows, a glazed look in her eyes... and the remaining two, her yellow-cloaked emotion wearing black-rimmed glasses, Knowledge, and her brown-cloaked emotion, Wisdom, were both sitting cross-legged with her backs straight, at full attention.

"We all know why you have gathered us together, Raven," Wisdom said.

"Yes," Knowledge added, pushing up her glasses, "and Wisdom and I cannot say that we believe it to be a reasonable idea."

"Eh, what's the harm in doing a little experimenting?" Bravery asked.

Timidity shook her head vigorously. "We don't know what would happen," she whimpered. "I'm too afraid to risk it."

"Aw, come on!" Happiness said cheerfully. "Raven just wants to know what it would be like not feeling you or Anger for once! Just for a little while! You can't blame her! And she'll put you both back in her mind soon after, won't you, Raven?"

"Mmm-hmm," Raven relied, nodding.

"Pfft," Anger said, looking away, "how pathetic. Raven's just being a coward by taking the easy way out of her problems. Why can't she stop being such a baby and bite her tongue whenever Robin and Starfire make out?"

Timidity made a whimpering noise and pulled her hood around her face. "You know why, Anger..." she said.

"She is correct," Knowledge said. "You know, because Robin and Starfire's actions do not only cause Raven sadness... but also anger." Anger narrowed her eyes in response.

Suddenly, Happiness giggled. "Such morbid thoughts," she said. "Hey, it's not like Raven isn't _happy_ that both Robin and Starfire are happy with each other... and I know this because _I'm_ happy for them... so why _act_ like she isn't?"

"True," Affection added, beaming. "I feel a great deal of affection in my heart, knowing that Starfire is happy with the boy she's loved for so long."

A sound equivalent to someone throwing up came from Rudeness. "Houston, we've landed in Barf Central," she said, rolling her eyes.

"So, are we gonna do this experiment or what?" Bravery asked impatiently. "I really wanna see what happens! It'll be so cool to finally be able to try it!"

"Yeah!" Happiness agreed.

"Yeah," Affection agreed.

Knowledge and Wisdom looked at one another, continued to do so for a few moments, then looked back at Raven. Clearing her throat, Knowledge once again pushed up her glasses.

"Well..." she said, "it is against mine and Wisdom's better judgement, but, as you are clearly eager to test this experiment yourself, you may as well."

"Yes!" Bravery exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air.

"Yay!" Happiness said, clapping her hands together.

"But on one condition," Wisdom said, silencing the joyful emotions. "You only take out the two emotions that you wish not to feel, then, once you are done, place them straight back in your mind... and, if anything should go wrong, do not hesitate to take immediate action in putting the emotions back."

"Right," Raven replied, nodding in agreement before turning to leave.

* * *

Seating herself back on her bed, Raven crossed her legs, closed her eyes and prepared herself for what she was about to do. She already knew the spell that would make this happen, as Malchior had taught her that very spell so long ago and she had read in one of her books that it was capable of plucking selected emotions from the mind if used correctly; she'd just never tried it before, as she'd been afraid of what might happen.

She took another few deep, soothing breaths; she'd meditate first, then attempt what she had never attempted before. Placing her thumbs and fingers together, she began to chant her mantra.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." she chanted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." She felt herself rising off her bed. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." She felt herself zone out from the rest of the world in a blissful trance. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..."

* * *

A little while later, Raven felt replenished from her meditation and decided it was time. Snapping herself out of her tranquil state of mind, she lowered herself back onto her bed and glanced towards her mirror. Was she seriously going to do this? She paused for thought before nodding; yes, she was.

Concentrating her magic on the mirror, she lifted it off the bedside cabinet and floated it towards her. Once it was close enough, she grasped the handle of it in the palm of her hand. She then looked intently at it; it was definitely time.

She raised her violet eyes to the ceiling, praying to Azar that everything would turn out okay... and that nothing bad would happen to her. She shook her head; now was not the time to think about that. She'd always wanted to try this and she wasn't about to stop now.

She gripped the handle of her mirror in both hands, staring deep into the glass. Of course, all that stared back at her was a reflection of herself, so that did little to comfort or reassure her. She took a deep breath and began.

"Necronom..." she chanted, concentrating as hard as she could on only taking out Timidity and Anger, which, according to her book, would only take a very restrained amount of this powerful type of magic. However, one wrong move could make her lose control and who knows what would happen then. Suddenly, she noticed her vision becoming clouded with black magic... not like her usual white... and was reminded horribly of her battle with Kardiac that day. "_Hezberek_..." Her violet hair and dark blue cloak suddenly began to billow in a vicious non-existent wind. Everything in the room was lifted out of his previous position and blown around the room as if trapped in a mini-hurricane. "MORTIX!"

It was then that she felt it; far too much dark magic was being released from her hands and eyes. She could hear everything in the room smashing, crashing and exploding violently; she'd lost control... she, Raven of the Teen Titans, had lost control.

She screamed in agony as she felt the dark magic wash over her; it felt like her entire body was on fire and the flames were licking at her skin, searing it and tearing away the flesh. Tears poured from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks as she willed it... _begged_ it... to stop.

Suddenly, she felt her life flash before her eyes; she saw her mother, Arella, who'd given birth to her, despite what she was... she saw Azarath, her homeland, the place where she'd grown up and learned how to control her emotions... she saw her father, Trigon, the king of all demons and the bane of her existence... she saw her crime-fighting team and best friends, the Teen Titans, who'd always been there for her and had managed to accept her for both who and what she was... she saw Malchior, the first person to ever open her heart wide enough for her to truly see how much she was capable of loving someone... and she saw Beast Boy, the boy who'd always tried to get her to laugh and join in with things she would never normally dream of joining in with... and how, because of his kindness that day with Malchior, she'd hugged him...

As the pain reached a climax, she felt herself being lifted from her bed and carried across the room. Her consciousness slipping, she tried to fight against it... stop herself from being taken away by the force of this dark magic... but it proved too much; her mind and body were equally exhausted and had no energy left to fight. She even felt the mirror slip away from her and land somewhere on the floor from her hand going slack.

More tears dripped down her cheeks; she was so terribly sorry for this... Knowledge and Wisdom had warned her that there might be dangers... yet she'd still insisted on trying it... and, now, she was paying the price.

As her eyes began to close, all willpower completely sapped from her body, she was vaguely aware of someone calling out her name... in a possibly distressed tone... How nice that someone was caring about her... She suddenly felt as if she were being placed into a deep sleep, one that she was vaguely aware that she might never wake up from... and, if she had more energy, she knew that she'd feel rather more panicky about that...

As soon as her eyelids touched the base of her eyes, her body plummeted from its mid-air position and crashed to the floor, most of the pain she would have felt dulled by the anaesthetic-like sensation. The last few sounds she only vaguely heard were a great clatter of objects, rushed footsteps heading in her direction and the same person as before calling out her name, once more in distress... then she fell unconscious.


	2. Lose Yourself

Author's note: Look, an update! :) How cool, I actually buckled down and wrote it.

Oh and about Raven's brown-cloaked emotion... (sweat-drops) I researched her as best as I could and it looks like no one's completely sure what she is. If she's either Fear or Sarcasm or something similar, sorry, but I've never read a fic with them in, so I've got nothing to work off there... so, for this fic, she's Wisdom. Lol.

Lastly, no, I don't like the song I used for the title. It just fits... kinda.

**Chapter Two: Lose Yourself**

Robin was lying peacefully in his bed, deep in slumber. He was dreaming that he and his girlfriend, Starfire, had gone camping together away from Jump City and were rolling around on the grass beside their tent, underneath the cloudless starry sky, the full moon being their only source of light. They were laughing, tickling each other and even making out and he was having the time of his life; nothing had ever made him this happy before.

He, like all the other Teen Titans, was fully clothed while sleeping, except, in his case, he'd left his high-density polymerized titanium cape on its hanger, since it tended to get tangled round his body and become very uncomfortable. He, himself, had insisted, when the team had first banded together, that they should always sleep in their uniforms, just so that they could be ready instantly if there was an attack on the city during the night, which there often was.

Suddenly, he heard a very loud shout of "MORTIX!" which snapped him out of one of the best dreams of his life. He was slightly grumpy about that.

He groaned groggily, rubbing his mask-covered eye. He may have only been half-awake, but he knew that that had been Raven shouting; only she would shout the word 'Mortix'. Plus, he was certain that it was _her_ voice he'd heard.

He yawned; why would she be casting magic at this time of night? Shouldn't she be sleeping, like everyone else most likely was? She _was_ a crime-fighter, after all, and crime-fighters always needed to be in tip-top shape every day of their lives, in order to be able to beat down any opponent that challenged them. What could she be-?

Something sparked in the back of his mind and he suddenly felt much more awake; did she say 'Mortix'? That wasn't her usual magic. The last time she'd used that was back when...

Suddenly, a scream only heard when a person was being tortured erupted out of nowhere and Robin leapt up out of bed; that was Raven's voice again! She must've stumbled across some kind of trouble!

"Raven!" he shouted, rushing to pull on his cape.

* * *

Starfire, asleep in her complete uniform, lay on top of her blanket and upside down on the bed, her boot-covered feet resting on her pillow and her head hanging off the end, the way all Tamaranians slept at night.

She was dreaming that she was skipping through a field of many different-coloured flowers, hand in hand with her boyfriend, Robin, the two of them laughing heartily while three clouds in the sunny sky smiled down upon them; the dark blue cloud was shaped like Raven's head, the green cloud was shaped like Beast Boy's head and the light blue cloud was shaped like Cyborg's head.

At the sudden shout of "MORTIX!" Starfire snapped out of her dream. She sleepily opened her eyes, took one look at her upside-down bedroom and half-sat up, groaning slightly.

"Huh?" she asked in a croaky voice, her eyelids only half open. She suddenly realised that she recognised the voice. "Raven?" What was Raven doing up at... whatever time it was? She blinked a couple of times, attempting to wake up properly, when she heard the most horrible-sounding scream; _that_ fully woke her up. She gasped, suddenly fearful for her friend's safety. "Raven!"

Quickly, she leapt out of bed, ran through her automatic door and, picturing the happy image of a basket of kittens meowing for their mother, made her body fly. Using that, she sped off down the corridor.

* * *

Beast Boy, also asleep in his complete uniform, mumbled in his sleep and pulled his blanket further around him, screwing up his face slightly; he was dreaming that was back in Raven's mind, surrounded by her emotions, which looked strangely like the five disturbingly cute main characters of some anime that Starfire had discovered on TV once, and gotten addicted to, called Mew Mew Power, complete with animal features and brightly-coloured costumes. They were all giggling and closing in on him and, panicking, he looked around him for a way out; on his left was Zoey in pink and Corina in turquoise... on his right was Bridget in green... behind him was Kikki in yellow... and in front of him was Renee in purple. Panicking at how close they were getting, he looked around for help. Spotting Raven standing in the distance, he called out to her, begging her to save him, but all she did was smirk at him.

He suddenly heard a voice he recognised shout "MORTIX!" and immediately woke up. He sighed in relief, thanking whoever it was that had just... Wait, wasn't that Raven who'd shouted? And what had she shouted? 'Mortix'? Just what the heck was that? It sounded familiar, but...

He suddenly heard the same voice scream in agony and he felt his heart pang very painfully. His eyes widened in horror; oh, God, no...

"Raven!" he shouted, throwing his blanket to one side and leaping out of bed.

* * *

Cyborg, lying on his diagonally-positioned metal table, plugged in and sleeping soundly, was dreaming, thanks to his installed dream cycle machine, that he was once again the leader of the Titans East over in Steel City and that he and Bumblebee, whom he'd appointed as his second-in-command, were both lounging back on the couch and ordering their team-mates around, said team-mates following every command they made; Speedy was washing the windows, Aqualad was cleaning the swimming pool, Mas was vacuuming the floor, with difficulty, as the vacuum was taller than him, and Menos was dusting the shelves, which he had to climb up first, since he too was small in stature. Both he and Bumblebee were laughing, high-fiving one other and commanding them to work faster. Bumblebee then called out that, once they were done, they were to buff Cyborg and give her a foot massage. Cyborg howled with laughter and put an arm round her, causing her to blush and beam at him.

Suddenly, the very loud shout of "MORTIX!" reached his ears, causing the dream cycle machine to instantly shut down, which he'd programmed it to do if he picked up a loud noise. He opened his eyes, which made the machine say "Dream cycle postponed" before his metal table automatically straightened itself out.

Cyborg grumbled and rubbed his human eye. "What was that?" he muttered. Stretching, he yawned, wondering why on earth someone would be shouting... His brain suddenly perked up; did that person say 'Mortix'? That sounded like a spell word... and the only person that he knew of that knew spell words was... He was cut short of his thoughts when he heard a blood-curdling scream; his own blood ran cold as he recognised the voice of the person screaming. "Raven!"

* * *

In no time at all, Raven's bedroom door opened automatically to reveal four teenagers bracing themselves for a fight; one had spiky black hair and a mask, gripping a red and yellow birderang, one had orange skin, waist-length red hair and completely green eyes, who was floating in mid-air, her eyes and clenched fists glowing green, one had dark skin, a bald head and blue eyes, who was holding up a sonic cannon, glowing blue, which was ready to fire, and one had green skin, green hair, green eyes and a slightly protruding fang, ready to morph into whatever animal was necessary.

They all gasped in shock at what they saw, Starfire's green glow and Cyborg's blue glow immediately disappearing; everything in the room - the statue of the drama heads, the statue of the raven, the bedside cabinet and the bed - was spinning around the room in what looked like a mini hurricane... and Raven was in the middle of it, being carried across the room by a mass of dark magic, tears streaking down her face... and she looked like she was about to fall unconscious.

"Raven!" Robin called out in distress. A moment later, just as they were about to decide what to do, Raven's eyes closed before, all of a sudden, she plummeted to the ground with a great thump. All four Teen Titans flinched at the sight, then everything around Raven crashed down around her. Instantly, they all rushed towards her as fast as they could. "Raven!"

They reached her in a matter of seconds, Robin instantly kneeling down and lifting up Raven's head, but, before anything further could be said, Beast Boy's animal instincts picked up something unusual and he was immediately on high alert.

"Dudes!" he called out. "Trouble!"

The other three looked up to see the smashed hand-held mirror near the upside down bed suddenly glow black. Then, after a moment, eight streaks of black energy came shooting from the depths of the mirror like fireworks. The four of them jumped back in surprise.

"Please!" Starfire cried out to her friends. "What is going on?"

"I'm not sure, Star," Robin replied as all four pairs of eyes watched the eight black 'fireworks' zoom around the room.

Suddenly, all eight of them, whilst flying around the room, began to slowly transform, moulding themselves into a common shape, causing everyone's eyes to widen and their mouths to drop open. First, their backs straightened out.. then their heads became round... then wings sprouted from their backs... then beaks formed on their heads... then talons sprung from their bodies... then glowing white eyes appeared on their faces.

"Whoa..." Beast Boy said. "Are those-?"

"Shadow ravens..." Cyborg replied.

While continuing to fly around the room, the eight shadow ravens opened their beaks and cried out into the night with a very high-pitched squawking sound. Immediately on the defensive, Robin gently placed Raven's head back on the floor, stood up and took up a fighting stance, unsure as to whether or not these things were a threat and whether or not they would need to fight them off. His team-mates mimicked his actions; no one was sure what was going on, as the only person they knew that could become a shadow raven was Raven herself, but they stayed on-guard regardless.

Suddenly, one of the shadow ravens did a nose-dive and headed straight for them. Instantly, the Teen Titans sprang into action, dodging out of harm's way; Robin back-flipped, Starfire flew up high, Cyborg ran forward and Beast Boy morphed into a mouse and scuttled away. Righting himself, Robin threw his birderang at their attacker, expecting it to penetrate and cause pain, but what it did instead was phase straight through and hit the wall. The shadow raven squawked at him, almost sounding like it was laughing at him, and flew straight over his head.

The other team members turned round and prepared to fight; Starfire made herself glow green from righteous fury and fired starbolts at the shadow raven that had attacked her boyfriend, but they went straight through and blasted a hole in the wall, so she stopped, ceasing her glowing. Cyborg then powered up his sonic cannon and fired it at the same shadow raven, but said shadow raven danced around it in mid-air, causing the beam to, like the starbolts, blast a hole in the wall. Beast Boy then decided to have a go and morphed into a kangaroo, throwing punches to intimidate the shadow raven; it narrowed its eyes in response, seemingly daring him to attack it, so, annoyed, he hopped forward as fast as he could and leapt into the air, preparing to kick it. Just as it looked like he was about to make contact, however, he slipped straight through and, panicking, morphed into a bird to stay airborne. Realising then that he couldn't possibly fight it, he flew back to ground level and morphed back into a human.

Robin looked around the room and suddenly noticed something; _that_ shadow raven was the only shadow raven attacking them. As for the others, one was doing loop-de-loops near the ceiling, one was cowering in one of the far corners, one was hovering in the middle of the room, squawking its lungs out as if to vent out frustration, one was lying on its back in mid-air, stretching and apparently yawning, one was circling round the team in what appeared to be very joyful manner and two were hovering in the other far corner, looking on at the rest of them.

"What the-?" he asked.

He couldn't finish this thought, as the shadow raven that had attacked the team gave a high-pitched squawk, which all seven of the others took notice of, before it zoomed towards the ceiling and, phasing through it, disappeared. Four of the others looked at one another for a moment, then, making a decision, flew through the ceiling and disappearing themselves. The two shadow ravens in the corner looked at one another and appeared to sigh before deciding to follow, so they, too, flew through the ceiling and disappeared. As for the one remaining shadow raven, the one that had been circling the team, it looked at the Teen Titans, then at the ceiling, then back at the Teen Titans, as though trying to decide what to do. After a moment, however, it chose to follow its comrades and disappeared through the ceiling.

There was a brief silence as the Teen Titans stood there, transfixed by the spot on the ceiling where the last shadow raven had exited the building just moments before.

"Um..." Starfire said, attempting to break the ice.

"Yeah..." Beast Boy added.

"... Just what the heck what _that_ all about?" Cyborg yelled.

Robin shook himself out of his trance. "I don't know," he replied, "but, whatever it was, it's over now." He looked down at Raven and his gaze softened. "Raven still hasn't woken up, so she's our main priority right now." The others nodded. "She needs to be taken to the infirmary." He turned to Cyborg. "Cyborg?"

"I'm on it," Cyborg replied. Allowing Robin to move out of the way, he knelt down and picked Raven up bridal style. He then stood up straight again and turned to Robin. "Just what was she _doing_, anyway?"

"No idea... we'll have to ask her that when she wakes up."

"Then let us make haste to the infirmary," Starfire said.

As the four of them turned away and exited the room, the mirror's black glow, which they'd all forgotten about in the chaos, disappeared.

* * *

As the four conscious Teen Titans entered the Titans Tower infirmary, Robin turned on the lights and Beast Boy sneaked a glance at the only unconscious Teen Titan, whom Cyborg was carrying, and stopped dead. The other three turned to look at him.

"Something wrong, BB?" Cyborg asked.

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed, pointing at Raven. "Since when was Raven's cloak black?"

The other three looked at her and all three pairs of eyes widened.

"You are right!" Starfire exclaimed, her hands jumping to her mouth. "What has happened?"

"Hmm..." Robin said, "her boots are black too... that's weird..."

"It must've been too dark for us to notice that before," Cyborg observed.

"Hey, hasn't Raven's outfit changed colours _before_ now?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yeah," Robin replied, "but it's never turned black before."

"Agreed," Starfire said. "It has turned light blue before... and it has turned white before... but it has never turned black."

"Weird..." Cyborg said as he headed towards the nearest bed before gently laying Raven down on it and hooking her up to the monitors; her heart gave off a steady beat, showing quite clearly that she was still alive.

"And what the heck were those shadow raven thingies?" Beast Boy asked. "I've never seen eight all at once before."

"None of us have," Robin replied.

"Oh, what has happened to our friend?" Starfire asked, worriedly wringing her hands together.

Cyborg paused for a moment, then turned around, his face suddenly serious. "Wait," he said, attracting his team-mates' attentions, "they came out of her mirror, didn't they?"

"Yeah..." Robin replied, his tone suggesting that he wasn't sure where this was going.

"The mirror that leads to her mind?"

At this point, Robin and Starfire bore confused expressions, but something appeared to click in Beast Boy's head.

"Oh!" he said. "Do you think they're her emotions?"

"What?" Robin asked.

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, I do," he replied. "They were the only thing in there that those things could have been."

"But what about the other animals that were in there?" Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg shook his head. "No, they were just birds and monsters; I doubt _they_ could turn into shadow ravens."

"Hey, you never know..."

"Hold it!" Robin said, clearly annoyed. "Just what are you two talking about?"

Both Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at Robin and Starfire, looked at each other and looked back at Robin and Starfire before bearing sheepish grins.

"Well..." Beast Boy said, "you remember that day when Raven went all crazy demonic and almost killed Dr. Light?"

"Yes, I remember that," Starfire replied.

"Well," Cyborg continued, "BB wanted to apologise, but was too afraid to enter her room, so I forced him... but I... knocked down the door by accident... aheh..."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Right..." he said slowly.

"Anyway, she wasn't there, so I was ready to leave, but the exploring grass stain here wanted to look around... and, when he found her mirror, something grabbed him and dragged him inside. I grabbed hold of him to save him, but I got dragged in too."

"Yeah, that must've been the anger emotion..." Beast Boy muttered, "or rage, more likely, since she was so evil..."

Cyborg rolled his eyes. "Obviously she's not really evil," he explained. "Trigon clearly took control of the emotion, increasing any anger she was feeling ten-fold."

Beast Boy waved a hand in dismissal. "Yeah, yeah, whatever... so, anyway! That's where we met Raven's emotions! There were... uh... eight of them in total, I think... and they all looked exactly like Raven! Except with different-coloured cloaks and boots!"

"Is that so?" Robin asked. "And you think the shadow ravens are these emotions?"

"Yeah," Cyborg replied, nodding.

Robin pounded his fist into his palm. "Then we need to go and find them. First thing tomorrow, we'll see if Raven wakes up, then go look for them." Everyone else nodded in agreement. He glanced over at Raven. "Maybe we should sleep in the infirmary tonight, to keep watch over Raven."

"Agreed," Starfire said.

Cyborg and Beast Boy nodded in agreement again, so all four exhausted Teen Titans each said goodnight to one another and headed for a bed.


	3. Down To Business

Author's note: Hi! I'm terribly sorry, people. I've been stalling with this update, since it wasn't something I was particularly interested in writing. I'll try to update faster in the future.

**Chapter Three: Down To Business**

Robin awoke early the next morning, yawning and stretching his arms and legs. For a few brief moments, as his rubbed at his eyes under his mask, he wondered why his bed felt less comfortable than usual.

He suddenly snapped to attention. _That's right!_ he thought as he remembered what had happened the night before. _Raven!_

He threw his blanket to one side, jumped out of the infirmary bed and grabbed his cape off the nearby hanger. As he attached it to his uniform, he glanced around and noticed that Starfire and Cyborg were starting to stir awake. Beast Boy, however, was still fast asleep.

"Ugh..." Cyborg groaned, "Man... I don't feel fully recharged this morning..." He yawned, sat up and scratched his metallic head. "Stupid bed with its stupid lack of stupid recharging equipment..."

Starfire, who was upside down on her bed, rubbed away the sleep in her eyes. "Good morning, friends," she said.

Although Robin did have to admit that Starfire looked adorable at the current moment, he had more pressing things to worry about. He turned away and walked towards Raven's bed, concerned about his team-mate's well-being. Stopping by the side of it, he gazed at her and noted that she hadn't moved at all since last night. This was very worrying, especially since she wasn't even floating above the bed in an attempt to heal herself.

"Yo, BB! Wake up!"

There was a strange 'thwump', as though Cyborg had thrown his pillow at Beast Boy, and said green changeling made a noise halfway between a yelp and a grunt. "Duuuude..." he said tiredly, shuffling around under his blanket, "don't do that..."

Robin sighed at the childish behaviour, but ignored it for the time being. "Raven's still not awake," he said.

There was a sudden silence behind him for a few moments, which was instantly followed by blankets being thrown to the side and three sets of frantic footsteps in his direction.

"Our friend is still asleep?" Starfire asked worriedly.

Cyborg quickly checked the readouts on the machine that was hooked up to Raven's body. "No," he replied, "she's in a coma."

Nobody said anything for minute or so and Robin knew that his team-mates were just as worried about the half-demon as he was.

"So..." Beast Boy said slowly, "what now?"

Robin frowned. "Well," he said, "from the looks of things, she needs her emotions to wake up again... so we need to set out and find them."

"Agreed," Starfire said, her voice wavering slightly. "There is no telling what may happen if we do not bring them back."

"One of us should stay _here_ and keep an eye on her," Cyborg suggested.

"I know," Robin replied, "but, if we do _that_, then there'll be less of us to search and it'll take _longer_."

"We're not leaving Raven _alone_!" Beast Boy yelled in outrage.

"Perhaps we could request assistance," Starfire suggested.

Robin turned to her. "Yeah," he replied, "we could do that." He thought for a moment on who would be the best choice, then pulled out his communicator and clicked it open. "Robin calling Kid Flash."

For a moment, there was nothing but static on the screen, but, once it cleared, Kid Flash's face appeared. "Hey, Robin," he replied cheerfully. "What's up?"

"We need your help here in Jump City. Your speed can help us track down what we're looking for."

Kid Flash suddenly looked sheepish. "Gee, I'd love to help, but I'm kinda busy today."

"Oh, please!" Starfire begged. "We require your assistance!" She suddenly started talking really fast. "Our friend, Raven, is unconscious in the tower's infirmary and we need someone to watch over her while we proceed with our search, but we all wish to _help_ with the search and none of us wish to leave her alone, so we are hoping that you will _help_ us to search, so that none of us are _required_ to leave her alone, since you are the fastest boy alive and would help us complete our search much faster than if we did it by ourselves!" She took deep breaths after nearly making herself go blue in the face.

Kid Flash blinked at her. "Raven's unconscious?" His expression became concerned. "What happened to her?"

"We'll explain that later," Robin replied, not wanting to go into detail over the communicator.

Kid Flash paused again and smiled. "Okay, listen, how about I get my partner to help you instead? I'm sure she wouldn't mind." He turned to look at someone off-screen. "_Would_ you, Jinx?"

Jinx's face slid onto the screen and she had a toothbrush in her mouth. "Nah, I guess not," she mumbled around the toothbrush. She quickly spat out the toothpaste off-screen, then reappeared. "It's better than what I was _originally_ gonna be doing today..." She glared lightly at Kid Flash. "Which was being zipped around the country at a thousand miles an hour again."

Kid Flash beamed. "There, see? Be there in a flash!"

The screen went blank and, as soon as Robin clicked his communicator shut, Kid Flash skidded to a stop next to him, holding a very dizzy and ill-looking Jinx in his arms. She jumped down and wobbled on her feet.

"Dude!" Cyborg yelped, astounded. "We didn't even open the door yet! How the heck did you get in?"

Kid Flash put his knuckles on his hips. "Oh, didn't you know? I can vibrate my molecules through solid objects."

"Yeah..." Jinx said through gritted teeth, "and it didn't feel at all pleasant..."

Cyborg stared at him in astonishment for a few seconds, then put a hand to his head. "Aww, man... it's a good job you're a good guy, being able to get through my security system like that."

Finally, Jinx seemed to regain her composure. "Okay... so what do want me to do?" She glanced over at Raven and a sorrowful look flashed across her pink eyes. "Watch over _her_?"

Robin nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "The rest of us are gonna be out looking for her emotions, so we need you to-"

"Wait, hold on a minute." Jinx smirked. "'Looking for her emotions'?" Robin frowned at her, knowing exactly where this was going. "Are you _serious_?"

"Yes," Starfire replied, sounding rather confused, "we are _very_ serious."

Jinx laughed. "Oh, my God! You're really looking for her...?" She calmed herself down and smirked. "You know, as crazy as it sounds, it actually makes sense. Goth girl _needs_ to have someone find her emotions." She turned around and smirked at Kid Flash. "Although, I had no idea she had any emotions to lose in the first place."

Kid Flash shot her a disapproving look. "Aww, come on, Jinx," he said, "that was uncalled for."

"Yeah!" Beast Boy shouted, which caught Jinx's attention. "_Very_ uncalled for!" Jinx raised an eyebrow at him. "The four of us know very well that Raven has emotions. She gets annoyed at me _daily_ and even hugged me once!" Robin was surprised at this declaration and turned to look at Beast Boy. Everyone else was doing the same, which caused the boy in question to blush in embarrassment. "Um... I mean... well, I..."

"Oh, how adorable!" Starfire squealed, clasping her hands together and giggling.

Jinx chuckled coyly. "Aww, now, isn't that sweet?" she asked.

"She _hugged_ you?" Cyborg asked disbelievingly. "Raven _hugged_ you?"

"Well, I-" Beast Boy replied embarrassedly.

"Alright, that's enough," Robin said sternly, cutting across Beast Boy. As interesting as this piece of news was, they had more important things to worry about. He turned back to Jinx and narrowed his eyes again. "This is actually a very serious matter, Jinx. Raven is in a coma and we think the only thing to wake her up is to find her emotions."

"You know," Cyborg said, "they're technically her personas."

"Per-what-as?" Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg groaned. "Eight different parts of her personality."

"Hmm," Jinx said, "is that so?" She glanced back over to Raven. "Is that the reason she's all in black?"

"We think so," Robin replied.

"Hey, let's just call them her emotions," Beast Boy suggested. "It's much easier to say."

Kid Flash shook his head and chuckled. He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "Well, anyway, I need to get going. I have stuff to do."

Robin looked back at him. "What kind of stuff?" he asked.

"Well, Jinx and I discovered that two cities to the North and West of here could do with their _own_ teams of superheroes... so we've been trying to fix together a Titans North and a Titans West."

"And how's it going so far?"

Kid Flash heaved a deep sigh. "It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've been running all around the country, trying to form two groups of five from the Honorary Titans... but some of them don't _want_ to be in groups... while others aren't sure... and some will only join if a certain _other_ Titan joins. It's proving a nightmare."

"Pch," Jinx said, "_you_ think it's a nightmare? _I'm_ the one having to travel at speeds I'm not used to. Back and forth, back and forth... it's really nauseating. I've been violently sick a few times."

Kid Flash smiled. "Aww, don't be like that, Jinx. You know you enjoy being my partner in crime-fighting."

"Hmm. Well, I'll admit that it's more _fun_ being a hero. People like you more." She smirked. "And I get a great excuse to kick the butts of anyone who messed with me back when I was a villain."

Kid Flash chuckled again. He then paused a moment and smirked lightly at the four of them. "You know, if I'm successful, and I create a Titans North and Titans West, you guys might have to change your name to the Titans South."

"Aw, no way!" Cyborg declared.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy added. "We're the originals! We called ourselves the Teen Titans first, so we're not changing!"

Robin shook his head at their childish behaviour. "That's hardly the issue right now, is it?" he asked bitterly. The two best friends silenced at this.

"Well," Kid Flash said, "I need to get going, anyway." He suddenly zoomed off at light speed, then was back a second later, holding a red rose. He held it out to Jinx. "For you."

Jinx blushed as she took it from him, then glanced in the other direction. "Thanks," she muttered.

"Oh, how adorable!" Starfire squealed, clapping her hands together. "You and Kid Flash are doing the dating also?"

Jinx's back straightened hautily. "Yeah right! Pfft. As if."

Kid Flash shook his head fondly, then turned to the others and gave them a two-fingered salute. "Well, I'm off. Catch you guys later." He zoomed away again.

"Hmm," Robin said, nodding. "Okay, Titans, let's quickly clean ourselves up and head to the garage."

* * *

The four Teen Titans were all outside, standing on the shore of their tower's island and looking out towards Jump City. Cyborg was standing next to the T-car and Robin was standing next to the R-cycle. Jinx, in the meantime, was inside, sitting by Raven's bedside and watching over her.

"Alright, Titans," Robin said, turning to the group of three, "we need to fan out and search for those emotions."

"Personas," Cyborg corrected him.

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Emotions, personas, whatever. The point is: we have to find them."

"What shall be our course of action?" Starfire asked.

"Alright. Starfire, you head to the East side of the city."

Starfire gave an expression of determination. "That I shall, Robin!"

"Beast Boy, you take the South."

Beast Boy saluted. "Aye aye!" he replied.

"Cyborg, you take the West."

Cyborg nodded. "Can do," he replied.

"And I'll take the North. Titans, move out!"

As Cyborg clambered into the T-car and buckled himself in, Robin jumped onto the R-cycle and secured his helmet. Starfire imagined a field of flowers, which caused her to feel happy and levitate above the rocks, and Beast Boy morphed into a pterodactyl. The four of them then headed off towards Jump City. The T-car and the R-cycle, thanks to Cyborg's technology, floated just above the water while Starfire and pterodactyl-Beast Boy flew beside them. As soon as the four of them reached land, the T-car and the R-cycle landed with a light 'thump' and screeched to a halt while Beast Boy morphed back into human form.

"I wish you the best of luck, friends," Starfire said with an encouraging smile.

"Thanks, Star," Cyborg replied.

"Yeah, thanks," Robin added with a smile, then he frowned in determination again. "Okay, once you find an emotion, contact the others on your communicator."

"Roger!" Beast Boy replied with a smile and nod.

"Okay, let's move out!"

Robin sped off towards the North end of Jump City on the R-cycle, Cyborg sped off towards the West end of Jump City in the T-car and Starfire sped off to the East end of Jump City in mid-air. Beast Boy stayed right where he was, since he was already at the South end of Jump City.

* * *

Jinx sat quietly in a chair that she'd pulled up to the side of Raven's bed and watched the girl carefully. She'd never admit this to anyone, but she _was_ genuinely worried about her. True, the two of them had never gotten along terribly well, but they were both Titans now and, therefore, on the same side.

She sighed, loosely crossing her arms and slumping back in her chair; this girl had always bothered her. There was just always something strange about her that she could never put her finger on. She was always so dark and mysterious... and always seemed to be pretty emotionless whenever she saw her. Her team-mates obviously cared about her very much, though, because they'd been very offended when she'd made the emotion joke.

Looking at Raven, she might have thought that the girl was dead if not for the machine bleeping away to the rhythm of her slow heartbeat. After all, she was about as still as a plank of wood... and the fact that her skin was deathly pale certainly didn't help.

She vaguely wondered if Raven was cold, since she was lying on top of her blanket. She contemplated pulling her blanket out from under her and covering her with it, but that might have made her roll off and fall on the floor. She cringed at the thought, since she was certain that the others wouldn't like that, but she certainly didn't want to try to move her out of the way first. For one thing, it would be too difficult and way too freaky trying to move a motionless body; it'd probably feel like she was trying to move a corpse. For another, Raven was attached to a lot of wires and they'd no doubt come loose if she tried to move her.

Sighing again, she stood up, walked over to another infirmary bed and pulled the blanket off it. Just as she was about to walk back over to Raven, however, she glanced at the red rose from Kid Flash that she'd placed on another bed. She smiled, amused by that boy's antics. She was beginning to suspect that he might have some sort of crush on her, but she couldn't be too sure.

Walking over to Raven, she gently placed the blanket over her and nodded to herself, pleased with what she'd just done. She then walked back over to the rose and picked it up. As she gazed at it, she vaguely wondered how she felt about Kid Flash. After all, the boy had been the reason that her life had changed for the better. He'd helped her see what a horrible woman Madame Rouge was and helped her walk away from the HIVE Five and her life of crime. She'd never been respected as a villain, but she was certainly respected as a Titan. Various citizens were still getting used to her sudden switchover, but she knew that they'd fully accept her eventually.

_Hmm..._ she thought, _well, he __**is**__ cute..._ Her eyes widened in horror. _Oh, I did __**not**__ just think that._ She frowned in annoyance at herself, then destroyed the rose with her magic powers of bad luck. _That guy is a jerk. He thinks he's __**so**__ amazing. Peh. He thinks he can charm a girl with his roses, his super speed, his 'I'm-your-Prince-Charming-so-come-run-away-with-me-now-fair-maiden' attitude... his cute little face and- Gah! I did it again! Stupid stupid __**stupid**__ partner of mine!_

She threw the destroyed stem back on the bed and stomped over to her chair, where she sat down and grumpily crossed her arms. She was _not_ romantically interested in Kid Flash. If she was, he'd never let her live it down... Not that that was the most important reason, of course! The most important reason was that he had an ego, thinking that he was 'all that and a bag of chips' with his 'powers of persuasion'. It wasn't like _he'd_ been the reason that she got converted. The reason had been that Madame Rouge had crossed her and she'd wanted to make her pay! Not to mention the fact that she'd become sick of hanging around with those nitwits who used to call themselves her team-mates.

She glanced at Raven, half-tempted to talk to her, but decided against it. The girl probably wouldn't be able to hear her anyway and certainly wouldn't be able to answer back. On the other hand, she _might_ be able to hear her... which was a scary thought, considering that she'd be consulting her about private matters. She didn't want _that_ hanging over her head for the rest of her life.

She rocked back and forth on the chair and thought about Kid Flash again. He really was cute, in all honesty. He had ginger hair that sometimes smelled of cinnamon and eyes as blue as the sky on a cloudless day. Plus he had a really sweet voice, which usually had care etched into every syllable whenever he spoke to her... and whenever they had those little tender moments of staring into each other's eyes, she'd feel a pleasant spark and her heart would thump excitedly in her chest... She groaned and buried her face in her hands; okay, she was admitting it... she liked Kid Flash.

Looking up from her hands, she smirked lightly to herself; well, surely it couldn't be all bad. It wasn't like she was going to _tell_ him that she liked him. She'd keep it a secret for now. Glancing upwards, she looked out the infirmary window and wondered how the Teen Titans were doing in their search for Raven's emotions. She also wondered what on Earth emotions could possibly look like. Did they know what to look for?

She then thought about Kid Flash and his goal of forming two new teams. She chuckled mockingly; she had to admit, it was a great goal, but a nearly impossible one. No one that they'd spoken to so far had been overly keen on becoming part of a team, so the poor boy would probably be zooming back and forth around the country all day long, yet again.

She looked back at Raven and noted with some sadness that she hadn't moved an inch. What had happened to her? The others had said that her emotions had gotten loose, but how? And were they going to be able to find them and bring them back? How long would she have to sit here and wait?

She groaned again and slumped back in her chair; one downside to her new life as a Titan was that she now had so much more to worry about. When she'd been a villain, all she'd had to worry about was not getting caught stealing valuable goods, not getting beaten in a fight, not being sent to jail, being respected by higher authority villains and how much bigger fools Mammoth, Gizmo, Billy Numerous, Private HIVE, See-More and Kid Wykkyd could make of themselves... She was starting to wonder just how worth it being a Titan was...


End file.
